John Birmingham: Off One's Tits

By MARGIE THOMSON

If you're keen on Joe Bennett, you'll almost certainly like John Birmingham, whose writing is a more profane addition to the same gonzo-journalism genre, that is, idiosyncratic, engaging but full of explicit language (the title gives the general idea).

Birmingham's pieces give the appearance of being written for blokes and yet he pulls the rug out from under the feet of the macho by employing a great deal more thoughtfulness, self-parody and breathtaking personal frankness than most people would dare.

Some of this collection of short columns and slightly longer articles are about personal matters, others are pieces of ranting journalism on a vast array of subjects. On the subject of Queensland MP and morals campaigner Keith Wright's two sex crime trials, he writes: "Beware of men who wrap themselves in the shroud of the Lord and start telling the rest of us how we should live. It's just not normal and nine times out of ten neither are they."

Vintage

$29.95